When you're about to make a major purchase, do you read online reviews ahead of time?

I do. Some people are gonna bitch no matter what & I'll always believe company people put some of the glowing reviews in there but I want to see if there's a repeating complaint. I was recently looking at a dishwasher & it looked exactly like what I wanted. The online reviews though said it is fantastic...except for the fact the top shelf is too high & isn't adjustable. It's just good to know ahead of time.

I think online reviews are very useful. Despite the fact companies do plant plenty of reviews for various products, there is a large enough volume of reviews out there to aid in defining the negatives about a product.

I find hotel reviews particularly interesting because people's standards vary greatly. People don't seem to realize when you don't pay a lot of money for a hotel, you can't expect five star accommodations. That leads many to lie about bed bugs, I think.

Oh yes! I do have to laugh when people are at polar opposites on a product...then it can be a crap shoot but if a majority of reviews are either positive or negative it helps steer me. Sometimes even the bad reviews I take with a grain of salt because what that person didn't like might not be an issue for me.

I guess about 6 months ago we had to replace our microwave so I checked on line. The one my wife ended up buying had some red flags (to me) but knock on wood it's been fine.

Depends on what it is, if something gets enough negative reviews I probably will not purchase it.

Naw, but I don't make big purchases very often.

If I'm buying the item online, yeah...I read them.